Tue Nov 22, 2011
BEIJING Nov 22 (Reuters) - China's Yanzhou Coal Mining Company Limited will produce more than 20 million tonnes of coal from its Australia assets in 2011 after the company signed two M&A deals in Australia earlier this year, Zhang Minglin, vice general manager of parent Yankuang Group, said on Tuesday.
If realised, coal output from Australia this year for the company will rise by 67 percent from last year, as Yanzhou aggressively expands business in Australia.
That accounts for about 40 percent of the compay's total coal output last year, which is 49.4 million tonnes, according to Reuters calculation.
Yanzhou Coal has made four successful M&A deals in Australia and is still keen to acquire more Australian coal assets.
In September this year, Yanzhou Coal agreed to buy two coal companies from Australia's Wesfarmers Ltd for A$296.8 million ($288.5 million).
In August, Yanzhou Coal bought 100 percent equity interests in two Australian coal producers, Syntech Holdings Pty Ltd and Syntech Holdings II Pty Ltd, for A$202.5 million ($222.08 million) in cash.
In 2009, Yanzhou Coal bought Australia's Felix Resources Ltd for $2.9 billion, and in 2004 it bought Southland Coal Mine in Australia and renamed it as Austar Coal Mine Pty Ltd.
(sourced Reuters)
Showing posts with label Beiging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beiging. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
4 dead, 57 trapped in China coal mine rock blast
Friday, Nov 4, 2011 | Agency AP
BEIJING: Rescuers were working Friday to try to save 57 miners who were trapped in a coal mine in central China after a rock explosion that followed a small earthquake, state media reported. Four miners were killed in the blast.
The accident in the coal mine in the city of Sanmenxia in Henan province occurred Thursday evening when 75 miners were working in the shaft, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Fourteen workers escaped.
At least 200 workers were digging a small rescue tunnel about 1,650 feet (500 meters) deep to try to reach the trapped miners, the People's Daily newspaper's website said.
The Qianqiu Coal Mine belongs to Yima Coal Group, a large state-owned coal company in Henan, the State Administration of Work Safety said on its website.
Xinhua said a magnitude-2.9 earthquake occurred to the east of Sanmenxia and that the rock explosion happened about 30 minutes later.
The phenomenon known as a "rock burst" occurs when settling layers of earth bear down on the walls of a mine and result in a sudden, catastrophic release of stored energy. Exploding pillars can turn chunks of rock or coal into deadly missiles, and the shock waves alone can be lethal.
The survival of the trapped miners depends on the intensity of the rock explosion and the rescuers' ability to provide ventilation to them, a local official told The Associated Press.
"If it was not very strong, it might have caused the tunnel to get narrower, but we might still be able to send some air in there to ensure ventilation," said the Yima city Communist Party's head of propaganda, who would give only his surname, Tian, as is common with Chinese officials.
"But if the impact was pretty strong and caused the tunnel walls to collapse, then the ventilation was probably cut off immediately, suffocating the people trapped there. In that case it would be hard to rescue them," Tian said.
Tian said it was difficult to determine how deep in the mine the trapped workers were.
According to Xinhua, workers were digging a tunnel about 830 yards (760 meters) long, but after the rock burst, the tunnel appeared to have "basically folded" a little more than halfway down the passage, at 525 yards (480 meters). It was unclear what the condition of the tunnel was beyond that point, Xinhua said.
China's coal mines are the most dangerous in the world, although the industry's safety record has improved in recent years as smaller, illegal mines have been closed. Annual fatalities are now about one-third of the high of nearly 7,000 in 2002.
(sourcedTimesofIndia)
BEIJING: Rescuers were working Friday to try to save 57 miners who were trapped in a coal mine in central China after a rock explosion that followed a small earthquake, state media reported. Four miners were killed in the blast.
The accident in the coal mine in the city of Sanmenxia in Henan province occurred Thursday evening when 75 miners were working in the shaft, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Fourteen workers escaped.
At least 200 workers were digging a small rescue tunnel about 1,650 feet (500 meters) deep to try to reach the trapped miners, the People's Daily newspaper's website said.
The Qianqiu Coal Mine belongs to Yima Coal Group, a large state-owned coal company in Henan, the State Administration of Work Safety said on its website.
Xinhua said a magnitude-2.9 earthquake occurred to the east of Sanmenxia and that the rock explosion happened about 30 minutes later.
The phenomenon known as a "rock burst" occurs when settling layers of earth bear down on the walls of a mine and result in a sudden, catastrophic release of stored energy. Exploding pillars can turn chunks of rock or coal into deadly missiles, and the shock waves alone can be lethal.
The survival of the trapped miners depends on the intensity of the rock explosion and the rescuers' ability to provide ventilation to them, a local official told The Associated Press.
"If it was not very strong, it might have caused the tunnel to get narrower, but we might still be able to send some air in there to ensure ventilation," said the Yima city Communist Party's head of propaganda, who would give only his surname, Tian, as is common with Chinese officials.
"But if the impact was pretty strong and caused the tunnel walls to collapse, then the ventilation was probably cut off immediately, suffocating the people trapped there. In that case it would be hard to rescue them," Tian said.
Tian said it was difficult to determine how deep in the mine the trapped workers were.
According to Xinhua, workers were digging a tunnel about 830 yards (760 meters) long, but after the rock burst, the tunnel appeared to have "basically folded" a little more than halfway down the passage, at 525 yards (480 meters). It was unclear what the condition of the tunnel was beyond that point, Xinhua said.
China's coal mines are the most dangerous in the world, although the industry's safety record has improved in recent years as smaller, illegal mines have been closed. Annual fatalities are now about one-third of the high of nearly 7,000 in 2002.
(sourcedTimesofIndia)
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Europe's bailout an unexpected bargain for China
Sat, Oct 29, 2011
BEIJING (Reuters) - China might just be about to strike the deal of the decade. For a fraction of the trillion euros needed to clean up Europe's debt mess, Beijing could score huge diplomatic kudos for helping end the crisis while satisfying a domestic agenda of reducing dollar dominance in world trade and further loosening its currency straitjacket.
Any contribution to the rescue of the euro zone is fraught with risks -- and no sum has yet been declared -- but for many analysts the upside for China far outweighs the danger of failure.
Among multiple motivations China has for contributing to a euro zone bailout -- such as supporting recovery in its single biggest export market and protecting the value of the 600 billion euros of sovereign debt in the bloc it already owns -- being hailed as the banker to the world is a strong one.
Beijing already enjoys that status in Asia, largely because no country in the region has any desire to ask the IMF for help again after the bruising experiences of the 1997-98 financial crisis, while they would be more than willing to seek assistance from their principal trading partner.
"If you step that up a notch, China in an IMF-type role, then this is simply a soft-power projection on the global economic stage," says Tim Condon, head of Asian economic research at ING in Singapore.
"It's the world's second-largest economy helping avoid another Lehman-like panic."
A SMALLER PILE OF CASH
China has revelled in the role of saviour before, earning plaudits during the Asian financial crisis for not devaluing the yuan as the currencies of regional competitors crumbled, and again at the height of the 2008 global downturn when it unveiled a 4 trillion yuan domestic stimulus package that many observers say kept the world economy moving.
China's contribution to any rescue this time around would likely be far smaller.
That's because while China officially has a pile of $3.2 trillion of foreign exchange reserves, there isn't nearly so much money on hand.
Excess reserves -- the amount of foreign currency above and beyond that needed to cover short-term trade and sovereign debt purposes -- are calculated closer to $1.5 trillion.
Some of that has already been channelled to China's sovereign wealth fund and much of the rest could easily be spent if Beijing chose to clean up a pile of bad debt accumulated by its local governments, meaning free reserves might be as low as $500 billion.
That doesn't leave a huge amount of money to divert towards the euro zone rescue, which could easily explain official Chinese reticence on the size and scale of any commitment.
Beijing also would be reluctant to make a massive bet having watched for two years as Europe has limped from crisis summit to crisis summit, with each successive meeting hailed beforehand as the breakthrough event, only to disappoint.
And there are domestic risks for China's leaders, who face constituencies pessimistic about Europe and wary of buying its debt, something many Chinese see as a bad investment.
"China won't want to be seen as part of a failed effort, but as part of a success and that's probably why there's been so much to-ing and fro-ing," ING's Condon said.
SOMETHING TO GAIN
Chinese officials were customarily cautious on Friday.
Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao told a Beijing news conference that while Europe clearly saw China as an important investor, China wanted more detail about plans to boost the euro zone rescue fund before deciding whether to commit more capital.
Li Daokui, an academic member of the monetary policy committee of China's central bank summed up the quandry.
"It is in China's long-term and intrinsic interest to help Europe because they are our biggest trading partner, but the chief concern of the Chinese government is how to explain this decision to our own people," Li told the Financial Times.
"The last thing China wants is to throw away the country's wealth and be seen as just a source of dumb money."
A big Chinese investment bolstering the existing 440 billion euro European Financial Stability Facility -- even one far more modest than China's 2008 intervention -- would be a clear signal of closure for the crisis that Europe's leaders are desperate to send.
It also would advance several of China's own goals.
First, an investment fits China's need to diversify its foreign exchange holdings in euro-denominated assets. Investing via the proposed special purpose investment vehicle could be a much more favourable way of increasing Chinese holdings of euros rather than buying debt direct.
"Every major reserve currency has its own problems, so for China it comes down to choosing the right balance," said Song Xinning, a professor of European studies at Renmin University in Beijing.
Second, it might also help China deliver on its ambition to internationalise the yuan to unseat the dollar as the world's main unit of cross-border trade settlement.
"It allows China to hold fewer dollars in reserve while preventing a European meltdown that would also have affected their U.S. market," says MES Advisers President Paul Markowski, a long-time external adviser to China's monetary policy makers on international financial markets.
"The debt is cheap and, since the Chinese had already bought some Greek debt, preserves their position and more on an average cost basis," Markowski added.
With so many details still absent for how China might contribute to the funding of a leveraged EFSF, it's conceivable that part of the funding comes with strings attached to accelerate yuan trade settlement efforts, or outright issuance of yuan bonds to national central banks in the euro zone, analysts say.
Finally, it will inevitably grant China some political leverage over its biggest trade partner.
China often grumbles about its lack of access to Europe's markets and about the EU's long-standing arms sales ban on China. It has also been pushing Europe to recognise it as a market economy, something that would shield it from certain trade actions.
Some Chinese intellectuals argue that now is the time to negotiate hard, securing access to, control over, or even ownership of some of Europe's best brand names, companies and intellectual property.
A tilt in the balance of economic power is a price Europe may find it has to pay, however reluctantly.
"Do we really think that China would come to the rescue of the euro zone without getting something in return?" said French Socialist Party challenger François Hollande, who leads Sarkozy in polls for the 2012 election, on Thursday.
"Do we think that by putting ourselves, even if only partially, in the hands of these nations with which we also have to negotiate on monetary and trade issues, we will be able to get positive results for Europe?"
(sourced Reuters)
BEIJING (Reuters) - China might just be about to strike the deal of the decade. For a fraction of the trillion euros needed to clean up Europe's debt mess, Beijing could score huge diplomatic kudos for helping end the crisis while satisfying a domestic agenda of reducing dollar dominance in world trade and further loosening its currency straitjacket.
Any contribution to the rescue of the euro zone is fraught with risks -- and no sum has yet been declared -- but for many analysts the upside for China far outweighs the danger of failure.
Among multiple motivations China has for contributing to a euro zone bailout -- such as supporting recovery in its single biggest export market and protecting the value of the 600 billion euros of sovereign debt in the bloc it already owns -- being hailed as the banker to the world is a strong one.
Beijing already enjoys that status in Asia, largely because no country in the region has any desire to ask the IMF for help again after the bruising experiences of the 1997-98 financial crisis, while they would be more than willing to seek assistance from their principal trading partner.
"If you step that up a notch, China in an IMF-type role, then this is simply a soft-power projection on the global economic stage," says Tim Condon, head of Asian economic research at ING in Singapore.
"It's the world's second-largest economy helping avoid another Lehman-like panic."
A SMALLER PILE OF CASH
China has revelled in the role of saviour before, earning plaudits during the Asian financial crisis for not devaluing the yuan as the currencies of regional competitors crumbled, and again at the height of the 2008 global downturn when it unveiled a 4 trillion yuan domestic stimulus package that many observers say kept the world economy moving.
China's contribution to any rescue this time around would likely be far smaller.
That's because while China officially has a pile of $3.2 trillion of foreign exchange reserves, there isn't nearly so much money on hand.
Excess reserves -- the amount of foreign currency above and beyond that needed to cover short-term trade and sovereign debt purposes -- are calculated closer to $1.5 trillion.
Some of that has already been channelled to China's sovereign wealth fund and much of the rest could easily be spent if Beijing chose to clean up a pile of bad debt accumulated by its local governments, meaning free reserves might be as low as $500 billion.
That doesn't leave a huge amount of money to divert towards the euro zone rescue, which could easily explain official Chinese reticence on the size and scale of any commitment.
Beijing also would be reluctant to make a massive bet having watched for two years as Europe has limped from crisis summit to crisis summit, with each successive meeting hailed beforehand as the breakthrough event, only to disappoint.
And there are domestic risks for China's leaders, who face constituencies pessimistic about Europe and wary of buying its debt, something many Chinese see as a bad investment.
"China won't want to be seen as part of a failed effort, but as part of a success and that's probably why there's been so much to-ing and fro-ing," ING's Condon said.
SOMETHING TO GAIN
Chinese officials were customarily cautious on Friday.
Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao told a Beijing news conference that while Europe clearly saw China as an important investor, China wanted more detail about plans to boost the euro zone rescue fund before deciding whether to commit more capital.
Li Daokui, an academic member of the monetary policy committee of China's central bank summed up the quandry.
"It is in China's long-term and intrinsic interest to help Europe because they are our biggest trading partner, but the chief concern of the Chinese government is how to explain this decision to our own people," Li told the Financial Times.
"The last thing China wants is to throw away the country's wealth and be seen as just a source of dumb money."
A big Chinese investment bolstering the existing 440 billion euro European Financial Stability Facility -- even one far more modest than China's 2008 intervention -- would be a clear signal of closure for the crisis that Europe's leaders are desperate to send.
It also would advance several of China's own goals.
First, an investment fits China's need to diversify its foreign exchange holdings in euro-denominated assets. Investing via the proposed special purpose investment vehicle could be a much more favourable way of increasing Chinese holdings of euros rather than buying debt direct.
"Every major reserve currency has its own problems, so for China it comes down to choosing the right balance," said Song Xinning, a professor of European studies at Renmin University in Beijing.
Second, it might also help China deliver on its ambition to internationalise the yuan to unseat the dollar as the world's main unit of cross-border trade settlement.
"It allows China to hold fewer dollars in reserve while preventing a European meltdown that would also have affected their U.S. market," says MES Advisers President Paul Markowski, a long-time external adviser to China's monetary policy makers on international financial markets.
"The debt is cheap and, since the Chinese had already bought some Greek debt, preserves their position and more on an average cost basis," Markowski added.
With so many details still absent for how China might contribute to the funding of a leveraged EFSF, it's conceivable that part of the funding comes with strings attached to accelerate yuan trade settlement efforts, or outright issuance of yuan bonds to national central banks in the euro zone, analysts say.
Finally, it will inevitably grant China some political leverage over its biggest trade partner.
China often grumbles about its lack of access to Europe's markets and about the EU's long-standing arms sales ban on China. It has also been pushing Europe to recognise it as a market economy, something that would shield it from certain trade actions.
Some Chinese intellectuals argue that now is the time to negotiate hard, securing access to, control over, or even ownership of some of Europe's best brand names, companies and intellectual property.
A tilt in the balance of economic power is a price Europe may find it has to pay, however reluctantly.
"Do we really think that China would come to the rescue of the euro zone without getting something in return?" said French Socialist Party challenger François Hollande, who leads Sarkozy in polls for the 2012 election, on Thursday.
"Do we think that by putting ourselves, even if only partially, in the hands of these nations with which we also have to negotiate on monetary and trade issues, we will be able to get positive results for Europe?"
(sourced Reuters)
Saturday, October 8, 2011
China to cut retail fuel prices by 300 yuan/t -Xinhua
Sat Oct 8, 2011
BEIJING Oct 8 (Reuters) - China will cut retail ceiling prices for gasoline and diesel by 300 yuan ($47) per tonne effective from Sunday, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday.
The cut in fuel prices of about 3 to 3.5 percent would be the first this year.
(sourced Reuters)
BEIJING Oct 8 (Reuters) - China will cut retail ceiling prices for gasoline and diesel by 300 yuan ($47) per tonne effective from Sunday, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday.
The cut in fuel prices of about 3 to 3.5 percent would be the first this year.
(sourced Reuters)
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Race for resources - China steps up iron ore project in Africa and elsewhere
Saturday, 27 Aug 2011
Reuters reported that a bold push by China into iron ore projects in Africa and elsewhere will increase its access to supply and may help moderate prices but will only slowly reduce its dependence on the three companies that dominate the market.
About 85% of the imports of the raw material to make steel came from only four countries Australia, Brazil, India and South Africa. Beijing has stepped up its campaign to break that dependence by investing in mining projects in places such as West Africa where it has agreed on a spate of joint ventures and is seeking other deals including a proposal to swallow a whole company. These projects could produce up to nearly 250 million tonnes of ore annually in the medium to long term.
Analysts said but even if China secures and fully develops all these proposed projects and it will struggle to cut its reliance on the Big Three. The new projects will take many years to achieve full production while the majors each have their own ambitious expansion projects which will help reinforce market dominance.
Mr John Meyer a mining analyst at investment bank Fairfax said "These projects have little chance of displacing production from the major producers such as Rio, Vale and BHP who are so far ahead in terms of infrastructure, capital expenditure and quality of resources."
He said that "The Chinese are looking to become involved but they simply don't own the licenses to the world largest iron ore projects. China has had a fraught but symbiotic relationship with the majors and vowing to cut its dependence on them after failing to persuade them to offer big price discounts during the global financial crisis.”
The Chinese government has encouraged steelmakers such as Baoshan Iron and Steel and Wuhan Iron and Steel to gain more control over foreign iron ore. Wuhan and its third largest has vowed to become self sufficient by 2015.
Mr Li Xinchuang deputy secretary general of China Iron Steel Association said "China currently owns less than 10% of imported iron ore. We should seek 50% of ore from Chinese invested overseas resources in the next five to 10 years."
He said China would be able to break the hold of Rio, Vale and BHP on supply and pricing only if it can source half its overseas ore from Chinese-invested mines.
The icy relationship appeared to thaw in 2009 when China state owned Chinalco and Rio Tinto agreed on a USD 19.5 billion tie up but later that year Rio spurned the deal. China was bitter about the break up but later the two agreed a major joint venture to develop Rio massive Simandou iron ore project in Guinea.
Chinese industry officials also have accused the companies of monopolistic practices after Rio, Vale and BHP decided to abandon an annual pricing system in favor of a more flexible index based quarterly system last year.
(sourced from Reuters)
Reuters reported that a bold push by China into iron ore projects in Africa and elsewhere will increase its access to supply and may help moderate prices but will only slowly reduce its dependence on the three companies that dominate the market.
About 85% of the imports of the raw material to make steel came from only four countries Australia, Brazil, India and South Africa. Beijing has stepped up its campaign to break that dependence by investing in mining projects in places such as West Africa where it has agreed on a spate of joint ventures and is seeking other deals including a proposal to swallow a whole company. These projects could produce up to nearly 250 million tonnes of ore annually in the medium to long term.
Analysts said but even if China secures and fully develops all these proposed projects and it will struggle to cut its reliance on the Big Three. The new projects will take many years to achieve full production while the majors each have their own ambitious expansion projects which will help reinforce market dominance.
Mr John Meyer a mining analyst at investment bank Fairfax said "These projects have little chance of displacing production from the major producers such as Rio, Vale and BHP who are so far ahead in terms of infrastructure, capital expenditure and quality of resources."
He said that "The Chinese are looking to become involved but they simply don't own the licenses to the world largest iron ore projects. China has had a fraught but symbiotic relationship with the majors and vowing to cut its dependence on them after failing to persuade them to offer big price discounts during the global financial crisis.”
The Chinese government has encouraged steelmakers such as Baoshan Iron and Steel and Wuhan Iron and Steel to gain more control over foreign iron ore. Wuhan and its third largest has vowed to become self sufficient by 2015.
Mr Li Xinchuang deputy secretary general of China Iron Steel Association said "China currently owns less than 10% of imported iron ore. We should seek 50% of ore from Chinese invested overseas resources in the next five to 10 years."
He said China would be able to break the hold of Rio, Vale and BHP on supply and pricing only if it can source half its overseas ore from Chinese-invested mines.
The icy relationship appeared to thaw in 2009 when China state owned Chinalco and Rio Tinto agreed on a USD 19.5 billion tie up but later that year Rio spurned the deal. China was bitter about the break up but later the two agreed a major joint venture to develop Rio massive Simandou iron ore project in Guinea.
Chinese industry officials also have accused the companies of monopolistic practices after Rio, Vale and BHP decided to abandon an annual pricing system in favor of a more flexible index based quarterly system last year.
(sourced from Reuters)
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
China province wise crude iron ore output in Jan to Jul 2011
Wednesday, 24 Aug 2011
In million tonnes
(sourced MySteel)
It is reported that China province wise crude iron ore output during January to July 2011 total 691.92 million tonnes which Hebei topping the table.
| Province | Jul'11 | Jul'10 | Change | Jan-Jul'11 | Jan-Jul'10 | Change
|
| total | 116.96 | 96.10 | 21.7 | 691.92 | 567.82 | 21.9
|
| Hebei | 53.52 | 41.52 | 28.9 | 296.38 | 240.84 | 23.1
|
| Liaoning | 14.27 | 14.10 | 1.2 | 87.78 | 82.38 | 6.6
|
| Sichuan | 12.08 | 7.34 | 64.5 | 75.25 | 53.45 | 40.8
|
| Inner Mongolia | 8.61 | 7.55 | 14.1 | 52.04 | 43.77 | 18.9
|
| Shanxi | 3.54 | 5.73 | -38.3 | 32.88 | 28.15 | 16.8
|
| Anhui | 3.27 | 2.66 | 23.0 | 22.41 | 14.74 | 52.1
|
| Xinjiang | 3.78 | 3.23 | 17.3 | 15.47 | 9.46 | 63.5
|
| Fujian | 2.76 | 1.90 | 45.2 | 13.15 | 10.68 | 23.2
|
| Beijing | 1.73 | 1.74 | -0.6 | 11.39 | 12.27 | -7.2
|
| Shandong | 1.68 | 1.64 | 2.3 | 11.30 | 10.68 | 5.8
|
| Yunnan | 1.47 | 1.42 | 4.2 | 11.28 | 9.85 | 14.5
|
| Hubei | 1.57 | 0.89 | 76.6 | 10.00 | 6.47 | 54.4
|
| Guangdong | 1.71 | 1.32 | 29.7 | 9.67 | 8.38 | 15.3
|
| Jilin | 1.15 | 0.61 | 88.4 | 7.88 | 6.56 | 20.1
|
| Henan | 1.28 | 0.93 | 37.8 | 6.91 | 5.40 | 28.0
|
| Gansu | 0.88 | 0.89 | -0.9 | 5.50 | 5.18 | 6.1
|
| Sha'anxi | 0.77 | 0.54 | 42.4 | 5.49 | 4.55 | 20.6
|
| Jiangxi | 0.87 | 0.69 | 26.2 | 5.45 | 4.53 | 20.2
|
| Hainan | 0.52 | 0.23 | 128.2 | 3.39 | 2.85 | 19.1
|
| Hunan | 0.31 | 0.29 | 4.1 | 2.15 | 2.07 | 4.1
|
| Guangxi | 0.36 | 0.17 | 109.9 | 1.74 | 1.38 | 25.7
|
| Heilongjiang | 0.36 | 0.26 | 38.3 | 1.36 | 1.10 | 23.6
|
| Jiangsu | 0.21 | 0.19 | 9.0 | 1.36 | 1.31 | 3.4
|
| Zhejiang | 0.12 | 0.12 | -1.6 | 0.85 | 0.79 | 8.1
|
| Qinghai | 0.09 | 0.08 | 22.7 | 0.43 | 0.49 | -11.8
|
| Guizhou | 0.06 | 0.06 | -7.8 | 0.40 | 0.42 | -4.8
|
| Chongqing | 0.00 | 0.00 | -100.0 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 33.3 |
In million tonnes
(sourced MySteel)
Friday, April 8, 2011
Japan says economy in "severe" condition after disaster
Fri Apr 8, 2011 8:56am GMT
* Japan economy in severe condition, no quick recovery
* China says concerned over nuclear crisis
* Beijing to closely monitor Japan's actions
* No damage from aftershock reported at Fukushima plant
* Power cut in north Japan shuts factories, including at Sony
By Chizu Nomiyama and Yoko Nishikawa
TOKYO, April 8 (Reuters) - Japan's economy is in a "severe condition" with no quick recovery in sight following a triple disaster triggered by the March 11 earthquake that has sent service-sector sentiment plummeting the most on record, the government said on Friday.
While Japan confronts the economic impact of the disaster, it also faces increasing alarm from its neighbours with China expressing concern at the pumping of radioactive water into the sea from a crippled nuclear plant.
China's Foreign Ministry said it would "closely" monitor Japan's actions to end the crisis at the plant, where engineers are battling to contain radiation leaks. It demanded accurate information from Tokyo.
"As Japan's neighbour, we naturally express our concern about this," ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement.
China is the first nation to publicly express its concern over a crisis that has lasted close to a month. Other countries have banned or restricted food imports from Japan over radiation fears.
"We ask that Japan reports the relevant information to the Chinese side in a swift, comprehensive and accurate way."
Power blackouts and restrictions, factory shutdowns, and a sharp drop in the number of tourists have left the world's third largest economy reeling. Many economists expect it to slip into recession this year as factory output and exports suffer.
The crippled Fukushima Daiicho nuclear power plant north of Tokyo means power shortages and supply disruptions that will leave the economy weak for some time, Japan's central bank said on Friday.
The Cabinet Office's assessment was equally bleak.
"Japan's economy is suddenly in a severe condition due to the effects of the earthquake," it said after releasing a monthly survey of hotel workers, restaurant staff and taxi drivers that showed a record fall in confidence to levels last seen during the depths of the global financial crisis.
In an obvious sign of the downturn; taxis park in long lines in central Tokyo each night, their drivers staying warm by idling the motor as they wait forlornly for a fare.
Japan is facing its worst crisis since World War Two after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and a huge tsunami battered its northeast coast, leaving nearly 28,000 dead or missing and damaging six nuclear reactors north of Tokyo.
The Tokyo area and regions further north make up half of Japan's economy, Nomura research shows.
A strong 7.1 magnitude aftershock on Thursday night -- one of the biggest of more than 400 aftershocks above magnitude 5.0 -- shook the already ravaged northeast.
It forced two companies, including electronics giant Sony Corp , to stop production due to power cuts. At least two people were killed after the tremor.
There was a brief scare when water leaks were found on Friday at a second nuclear plant, Onagawa, in the northeast, but Japan's nuclear safety agency said it had not detected any change in radiation levels.
NO CHANGE IN RADIATION
A relieved Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) , which operates Fukushima, said Thursday's quake had not caused any more damage. It briefly evacuated workers because of a tsunami alert, although that was later withdrawn.
The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog sounded an encouraging note when one of its officials said there were signs of progress in stabilising the Fukushima plant, though the situation remained very serious.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had not detected any change in radiation levels following Thursday night's quake.
"The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant remains very serious ... (but) there are early signs of recovery in some functions such as electrical power and instrumentation," the IAEA's head of nuclear safety, Denis Flory, said.
The agency said radiation in the region around the plant, as measured by gamma dose rates, had peaked in the early days of the crisis, and aside from a rise on March 22, had since fallen to "a level very close to background".
DISRUPTS BUSINESS
Japan's neighbours have grown increasingly anxious at the risk of contamination from radiation, with some schools in South Korea closing because of fears of toxic rain. Officials there said the radiation levels in the atmosphere were harmless.
China's health ministry said this week traces of radioactivity had been found in spinach in three provinces and the state news agency Xinhua reported trace levels of radioactivity detected in 22 provinces.
To cope with power shortages, Japan's government has asked major companies to cut electricity use in the peak summer months by up to a quarter and the Tokyo Stock Exchange said the power cuts meant it would have to delay plans to extend trading hours.
The impact of the quake meant both output and exports, major pillars of the economy, would remain weak, the central bank said.
"Output will hover at a low level for the time being but then start to increase as supply constraints are mitigated," the Bank of Japan said in its monthly report for April.
Companies and households will need to cut back significantly on power usage this summer when demand is at its peak, Trade Minister Banri Kaieda said after a cabinet meeting. He urged major companies to cut electricity consumption by 25 percent.
But some ministers at Friday's cabinet meeting called for an end to a campaign of "self restraint" by ordinary people that was adopted immediately after March 11 to cut fuel or electricity use and discourage stockpiling of necessities.
"Some cabinet ministers said excessive self-restraint could worsen the economy, weakening economic power for reconstruction," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters.
PREVENTING MORE EXPLOSIONS
Utility TEPCO said it was continuing to inject nitrogen into one of its Fukushima reactors to prevent a repeat of last month's hydrogen explosions.
The plant is far from under control and engineers have been forced to pump in tonnes of water to cool down reactors, in the process making it radioactive. The water then has to be stored, though some has been released into the sea.
Officials say it could take months to bring the reactors under control and years to clear up the toxic mess left behind.
The government has set up a 20-km (12-mile) exclusion zone around the plant, banned fishing along much of the northeast coast and set up evacuation centres for the tens of thousands forced to leave their homes following the crisis. ($1=85.475 Japanese yen)
(Additional reporting by Mayumi Negishi, Chisa Fujioka, Yoko Nishikawa and Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo, Ben Blanchard and Sui-lee Wee in Beijing, Jack Kim in Seoul; Writing by Jonathan Thatcher and Michael Perry; Editing by Neil Fullick, sourced Thomson Reuters)
* Japan economy in severe condition, no quick recovery
* China says concerned over nuclear crisis
* Beijing to closely monitor Japan's actions
* No damage from aftershock reported at Fukushima plant
* Power cut in north Japan shuts factories, including at Sony
By Chizu Nomiyama and Yoko Nishikawa
TOKYO, April 8 (Reuters) - Japan's economy is in a "severe condition" with no quick recovery in sight following a triple disaster triggered by the March 11 earthquake that has sent service-sector sentiment plummeting the most on record, the government said on Friday.
While Japan confronts the economic impact of the disaster, it also faces increasing alarm from its neighbours with China expressing concern at the pumping of radioactive water into the sea from a crippled nuclear plant.
China's Foreign Ministry said it would "closely" monitor Japan's actions to end the crisis at the plant, where engineers are battling to contain radiation leaks. It demanded accurate information from Tokyo.
"As Japan's neighbour, we naturally express our concern about this," ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement.
China is the first nation to publicly express its concern over a crisis that has lasted close to a month. Other countries have banned or restricted food imports from Japan over radiation fears.
"We ask that Japan reports the relevant information to the Chinese side in a swift, comprehensive and accurate way."
Power blackouts and restrictions, factory shutdowns, and a sharp drop in the number of tourists have left the world's third largest economy reeling. Many economists expect it to slip into recession this year as factory output and exports suffer.
The crippled Fukushima Daiicho nuclear power plant north of Tokyo means power shortages and supply disruptions that will leave the economy weak for some time, Japan's central bank said on Friday.
The Cabinet Office's assessment was equally bleak.
"Japan's economy is suddenly in a severe condition due to the effects of the earthquake," it said after releasing a monthly survey of hotel workers, restaurant staff and taxi drivers that showed a record fall in confidence to levels last seen during the depths of the global financial crisis.
In an obvious sign of the downturn; taxis park in long lines in central Tokyo each night, their drivers staying warm by idling the motor as they wait forlornly for a fare.
Japan is facing its worst crisis since World War Two after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and a huge tsunami battered its northeast coast, leaving nearly 28,000 dead or missing and damaging six nuclear reactors north of Tokyo.
The Tokyo area and regions further north make up half of Japan's economy, Nomura research shows.
A strong 7.1 magnitude aftershock on Thursday night -- one of the biggest of more than 400 aftershocks above magnitude 5.0 -- shook the already ravaged northeast.
It forced two companies, including electronics giant Sony Corp , to stop production due to power cuts. At least two people were killed after the tremor.
There was a brief scare when water leaks were found on Friday at a second nuclear plant, Onagawa, in the northeast, but Japan's nuclear safety agency said it had not detected any change in radiation levels.
NO CHANGE IN RADIATION
A relieved Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) , which operates Fukushima, said Thursday's quake had not caused any more damage. It briefly evacuated workers because of a tsunami alert, although that was later withdrawn.
The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog sounded an encouraging note when one of its officials said there were signs of progress in stabilising the Fukushima plant, though the situation remained very serious.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had not detected any change in radiation levels following Thursday night's quake.
"The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant remains very serious ... (but) there are early signs of recovery in some functions such as electrical power and instrumentation," the IAEA's head of nuclear safety, Denis Flory, said.
The agency said radiation in the region around the plant, as measured by gamma dose rates, had peaked in the early days of the crisis, and aside from a rise on March 22, had since fallen to "a level very close to background".
DISRUPTS BUSINESS
Japan's neighbours have grown increasingly anxious at the risk of contamination from radiation, with some schools in South Korea closing because of fears of toxic rain. Officials there said the radiation levels in the atmosphere were harmless.
China's health ministry said this week traces of radioactivity had been found in spinach in three provinces and the state news agency Xinhua reported trace levels of radioactivity detected in 22 provinces.
To cope with power shortages, Japan's government has asked major companies to cut electricity use in the peak summer months by up to a quarter and the Tokyo Stock Exchange said the power cuts meant it would have to delay plans to extend trading hours.
The impact of the quake meant both output and exports, major pillars of the economy, would remain weak, the central bank said.
"Output will hover at a low level for the time being but then start to increase as supply constraints are mitigated," the Bank of Japan said in its monthly report for April.
Companies and households will need to cut back significantly on power usage this summer when demand is at its peak, Trade Minister Banri Kaieda said after a cabinet meeting. He urged major companies to cut electricity consumption by 25 percent.
But some ministers at Friday's cabinet meeting called for an end to a campaign of "self restraint" by ordinary people that was adopted immediately after March 11 to cut fuel or electricity use and discourage stockpiling of necessities.
"Some cabinet ministers said excessive self-restraint could worsen the economy, weakening economic power for reconstruction," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters.
PREVENTING MORE EXPLOSIONS
Utility TEPCO said it was continuing to inject nitrogen into one of its Fukushima reactors to prevent a repeat of last month's hydrogen explosions.
The plant is far from under control and engineers have been forced to pump in tonnes of water to cool down reactors, in the process making it radioactive. The water then has to be stored, though some has been released into the sea.
Officials say it could take months to bring the reactors under control and years to clear up the toxic mess left behind.
The government has set up a 20-km (12-mile) exclusion zone around the plant, banned fishing along much of the northeast coast and set up evacuation centres for the tens of thousands forced to leave their homes following the crisis. ($1=85.475 Japanese yen)
(Additional reporting by Mayumi Negishi, Chisa Fujioka, Yoko Nishikawa and Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo, Ben Blanchard and Sui-lee Wee in Beijing, Jack Kim in Seoul; Writing by Jonathan Thatcher and Michael Perry; Editing by Neil Fullick, sourced Thomson Reuters)
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Mining giants eye China's west for future growth
Thu Mar 24, 2011 7:40am GMT
March 24 (Reuters) - The world's biggest iron ore producers are looking to China's undeveloped western regions for future growth as steel output on the country's thriving eastern coast nears its peak.
Speaking at a Metal Bulletin conference in Beijing, mining executives said the industrialisation and urbanisation of western regions like Xinjiang will need soaring volumes of steel and keep Chinese demand for imported ore at high levels.
"Global iron ore demand for the foreseeable future is strongly driven by China," said Sam Walsh, iron ore director with Rio Tinto , the world's second-biggest iron ore producer.
"Steel use in high-intensity export-dominated cities like Shanghai, Tianjin and Beijing is already at the high levels of developed markets like South Korea, but what is truly remarkable is what is yet to come -- inland provinces are just beginning to climb the steel intensity curve," Walsh said.
Government efforts to redress the west-east income gap through intensive infrastructure construction will drive demand, he said, adding that per capita steel consumption in western and central regions was still not even half that of coastal regions.
Luiz Meriz, China president of Brazil's Vale , the world's top iron ore producer, said on Tuesday that rumours of a slowdown in Chinese iron ore demand over the next few years were greatly exaggerated.
"Steel intensity (the amount produced per unit of GDP) varies per region and it is still very low in western China, though it might have peaked in east coastal regions," he said.
He said steel output in the east could peak by 2015, but growth in central and western regions would continue, adding that China's current 46 percent urbanisation rate was expected to grow 1 percent every year until it reaches 70 percent.
Annual seaborne iron ore trade has more than doubled in the last 10 years to around 1 billion tonnes, driven primarily by demand from China's steel industry, by far the world's biggest.
The surge has prompted global mining giants to expand capacity, with Vale aiming to raise output to 522 million tonnes by 2015, up from 311 million tonnes last year and Rio planning an increase of more than 100 million tonnes by investing big in its Pilbara property and its Simandou project in Guinea.
Official figures show that China imported 618.6 million tonnes of iron ore in 2010, down 1.43 percent from the 2009 record, and the industry predicts a 6 percent increase in imports this year.
However, steel industry consultants MEPS said in a research report this week that Chinese demand is being underestimated to the tune of 118 million tonnes over the next two years.
MEPS said analysts have been misled by China's official steel output figures, which could have been under-reported by as much as 47 million tonnes last year as mills tried to evade tough energy restrictions. (sourced:Reuters)
March 24 (Reuters) - The world's biggest iron ore producers are looking to China's undeveloped western regions for future growth as steel output on the country's thriving eastern coast nears its peak.
Speaking at a Metal Bulletin conference in Beijing, mining executives said the industrialisation and urbanisation of western regions like Xinjiang will need soaring volumes of steel and keep Chinese demand for imported ore at high levels.
"Global iron ore demand for the foreseeable future is strongly driven by China," said Sam Walsh, iron ore director with Rio Tinto , the world's second-biggest iron ore producer.
"Steel use in high-intensity export-dominated cities like Shanghai, Tianjin and Beijing is already at the high levels of developed markets like South Korea, but what is truly remarkable is what is yet to come -- inland provinces are just beginning to climb the steel intensity curve," Walsh said.
Government efforts to redress the west-east income gap through intensive infrastructure construction will drive demand, he said, adding that per capita steel consumption in western and central regions was still not even half that of coastal regions.
Luiz Meriz, China president of Brazil's Vale , the world's top iron ore producer, said on Tuesday that rumours of a slowdown in Chinese iron ore demand over the next few years were greatly exaggerated.
"Steel intensity (the amount produced per unit of GDP) varies per region and it is still very low in western China, though it might have peaked in east coastal regions," he said.
He said steel output in the east could peak by 2015, but growth in central and western regions would continue, adding that China's current 46 percent urbanisation rate was expected to grow 1 percent every year until it reaches 70 percent.
Annual seaborne iron ore trade has more than doubled in the last 10 years to around 1 billion tonnes, driven primarily by demand from China's steel industry, by far the world's biggest.
The surge has prompted global mining giants to expand capacity, with Vale aiming to raise output to 522 million tonnes by 2015, up from 311 million tonnes last year and Rio planning an increase of more than 100 million tonnes by investing big in its Pilbara property and its Simandou project in Guinea.
Official figures show that China imported 618.6 million tonnes of iron ore in 2010, down 1.43 percent from the 2009 record, and the industry predicts a 6 percent increase in imports this year.
However, steel industry consultants MEPS said in a research report this week that Chinese demand is being underestimated to the tune of 118 million tonnes over the next two years.
MEPS said analysts have been misled by China's official steel output figures, which could have been under-reported by as much as 47 million tonnes last year as mills tried to evade tough energy restrictions. (sourced:Reuters)
Monday, March 7, 2011
China gives environmental nod to Sasol CTL project
Mon Mar 7, 2011 5:21am GMT
BEIJING (Reuters) - China granted initial environmental approval to an $8.8 billion project by South African petrochemical firm Sasol and China's top coal producer Shenhua Group to turn coal into fuels.
The environmental clearence put the project, potentially one of the largest foreign investments in China, a step closer to final approval from the top economic steering body, the National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC), after nearly a decade of talks between the two companies.
The project, to be built in north China's Ningxia region, plans to make 3.16 million tonnes of diesel and 655,500 tonnes of naphtha a year, according to a post published on the website of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection (www.mep.gov.cn).
After backing coal-to-liquid (CTL) investments as a way of improving energy security and easing its growing dependence on foreign oil, China went cold on the technology in 2008, cancelling dozens of projects amid concerns about high costs and the impact it would have on scarce local water supplies.
The country's massive coal industry has also been developing its own coal liquefying technology, which has become a drag for the government to rush approving projects like this one by Sasol, which emerged from discussions with Shenhua back in 2000.
"The Chinese government obviously favours domestically grown technology when its comes to approvals, given that Shenhua already started a similar plant based on pure Chinese know-how," said a Beijing-based oil industry official.
Shenhua Group, parent of Shenhua Energy Co Ltd, has built its first CTL plant in the northern Inner Mongolia region expected to reach 3 million tonnes a year by 2015.
"It seems a big reason why the project got the final go-ahead was the potential for technology transfer from Sasol to Shenhua. Its a very important consideration given how new this sector is in China," said Shi Sijin, an analyst at Hawker Capital.
But Shi said the approval shouldn't be interpreted to mean Beijing is shifting its cautious position on the sector and that the Chinese government is unlikely to encourage more CTL projects.
Sasol CEO Pat Davies told analysts in December that the firm was expecting a positive outcome from the Chinese government early this year and hoped to make the investment decision during this calendar year. (sourced:Thomson Reuters)
Tags : CTL, coal liquefying technology, Hawker Capital, coal, coal to liquids project
BEIJING (Reuters) - China granted initial environmental approval to an $8.8 billion project by South African petrochemical firm Sasol and China's top coal producer Shenhua Group to turn coal into fuels.
The environmental clearence put the project, potentially one of the largest foreign investments in China, a step closer to final approval from the top economic steering body, the National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC), after nearly a decade of talks between the two companies.
The project, to be built in north China's Ningxia region, plans to make 3.16 million tonnes of diesel and 655,500 tonnes of naphtha a year, according to a post published on the website of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection (www.mep.gov.cn).
After backing coal-to-liquid (CTL) investments as a way of improving energy security and easing its growing dependence on foreign oil, China went cold on the technology in 2008, cancelling dozens of projects amid concerns about high costs and the impact it would have on scarce local water supplies.
The country's massive coal industry has also been developing its own coal liquefying technology, which has become a drag for the government to rush approving projects like this one by Sasol, which emerged from discussions with Shenhua back in 2000.
"The Chinese government obviously favours domestically grown technology when its comes to approvals, given that Shenhua already started a similar plant based on pure Chinese know-how," said a Beijing-based oil industry official.
Shenhua Group, parent of Shenhua Energy Co Ltd, has built its first CTL plant in the northern Inner Mongolia region expected to reach 3 million tonnes a year by 2015.
"It seems a big reason why the project got the final go-ahead was the potential for technology transfer from Sasol to Shenhua. Its a very important consideration given how new this sector is in China," said Shi Sijin, an analyst at Hawker Capital.
But Shi said the approval shouldn't be interpreted to mean Beijing is shifting its cautious position on the sector and that the Chinese government is unlikely to encourage more CTL projects.
Sasol CEO Pat Davies told analysts in December that the firm was expecting a positive outcome from the Chinese government early this year and hoped to make the investment decision during this calendar year. (sourced:Thomson Reuters)
Tags : CTL, coal liquefying technology, Hawker Capital, coal, coal to liquids project
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